Comments on: Do You Own Your Email?

By: Jim

Jim — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 20:39:00 +0000

Gmail’s TOS give me nightmares. I send my stuff as attachments on it. Never mind the preamble you quote, look at the actual TOS paragraphs, read the second sentence carefully: One day when digital novels replace paper does this mean if you sent a novel as an attachment they will have the right to market it without paying royalties? I’m no lawyer but it sure looks like it . . . I guess a court would have to decide but I’m stopping sending my work as attachments.

11.1 You retain copyright and any other rights you already hold in Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services. By submitting, posting or displaying the content you give Google a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services. This license is for the sole purpose of enabling Google to display, distribute and promote the Services and may be revoked for certain Services as defined in the Additional Terms of those Services.

11.2 You agree that this license includes a right for Google to make such Content available to other companies, organizations or individuals with whom Google has relationships for the provision of syndicated services, and to use such Content in connection with the provision of those services.

11.3 You understand that Google, in performing the required technical steps to provide the Services to our users, may (a) transmit or distribute your Content over various public networks and in various media; and (b) make such changes to your Content as are necessary to conform and adapt that Content to the technical requirements of connecting networks, devices, services or media. You agree that this license shall permit Google to take these actions.

By: Peter Srinivasan

Peter Srinivasan — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 12:31:50 +0000

@Rich Menga: Unfortunately you are right. WGA is the only way to “guarantee” safety for your screenplay.

FD’s security only goes so far in that not all of the actors in my films have FD (most don’t, naturally), and as such, they get PDF’s until I get enough budget to print my own paper.

This is the current state of things. One day your intellectual property will be safe digitally; one day my keyboard will stop ignoring/doubling keystrokes :<

By: Windows Tweaks

Windows Tweaks — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 09:14:40 +0000

Nice article focused on free serviced emails, my answer would be; l dont know, lcant know, the future plans of service providers are very connected with this worry, yahoo has closed its briefcafe service, l cant know if he will close geocities later, or mails in the far future or redirect it to other provider. we wil see and live.
thanks fr th artcle.

By: Rich Menga

Rich Menga — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 22:56:29 +0000

First, use Final Draft (it’s what I use) so you can take advantage of its security features for screenplays.

Second, the best option is still to register your scripts the old-school way with the WGA (Writer’s Guild of America). It’s only $10 each for members, $22 otherwise and is still the best way to protect authorship of your works.

By: Peter Srinivasan

Peter Srinivasan — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 15:30:25 +0000

This is a question of some importance to me, since I send pdf versions of screenplays across email ALL the time for film. What happens with those PDFs? I think it is still highly necessary to physically copyright your work if you need it to remain yours, but I also believe there should be a new, DIGITAL method for doing so, as opposed to forcing paper in an increasingly digital world.